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4 Reasons Why Startup Week San Diego Is Good For Your Life & Your Business

Celebrating and participating in local innovation has never been cooler for San Diegans, thanks to Startup Week San Diego.

Located in the heart of downtown SD June 14th-20th.

This action packed 6 day event is designed to be the premier catalyst for innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurialism.

If you haven’t decided to attend, volunteer, or showcase at the event yet, here’s 4 solid reasons why doing so is good for your life and business.

1.Cutting Edge Information and Education Resource:

Have you ever wanted to be in the know, while helping to create the future? Welcome to the innovation and information highway. #SDSW is the ultimate platform to learn from leaders in Software as a Service (SaaS) including mobile tech, consumer internet, hardware, and defense technology.

Here’s a sneak peak of a few speaker’s topics you won’t find elsewhere:

“$h!T Founders Don’t Talk About” speakers Mel Gordon Co-founder of TapHunter along with Bryan Hall Co-Founded his own engineering services company, and David Warren CEO of the mobile app LIA, share honest, raw, and insightful stories from the front lines as a Startup Founders.

“How to Launch A Product on Kickstarter” crowdfunding your business has never been easier and in some cases more complicated. 3 San Diego Startups share with you their journey and the how to’s of launching and successfully getting funded on Kickstarter.

2. Explore & Enjoy San Diego Venues Like Never Before:

San Diego Startup Week doesn’t believe in stuffy conference rooms or returning to the same boring location day after day.

The roster of venues includes: the newly constructed $185 million library, the Broadway Pier which is located directly on the harbor, Mission Brewery where craft beer is their passion, and a handful of cool Startup incubators and accelerators where you’ll experience startup work culture firsthand.

If you’re ready for a real adventure we recommend the “Startup Crawl” on Weds June 17th from 7-9pm.
Groups will trek or crawl to various San Diego Startup and Tech companies for office tours, product showcases, and samplings of local craft beers.

3.Exceptional Networking Opportunities

You’ve heard it before “Your Network is your Net Worth” Startup week promises to infuse a community of thriving business and creative minds together with fun relationship building
activities.

4. Great Way To Invest in your Education, Yourself, and San Diego Businesses

Whether you’re an SD local or visiting for your first time there’s no denying the entrepreneurial spirit is thriving with in this beach city. There’s never been a better time to invest in those things that matter most.

All access passes for the entire WEEK tickets are only $50 per person, and current students can attend free of charge. And if you find yourself wanting to assist, and gain a more behind the scenes perspective, sign up to get involved as a volunteer here>> Volunteer

Now that we’ve giving you our Top 4 for Reasons to check out #SDSW, we hope you have the opportunity to enjoy San Diego Startup Week and all it’s unique offerings.

The Startup Garage Team looks forward to hearing about your experience at #SDSW tag us in your social media posts #TheStartupGarage and share with us any tips or lessons you may have learned throughout the week. Enjoy!

Equally as interesting to the individuals that attended the conference, was where the event took place, “The Downtown Project” (Psst..If you haven’t heard this name get familiar with it, you’ll be hearing a lot about it.)

It’s there, just 6 miles from the infamous Las Vegas Strip, a small Startup town is brewing. The cutting edge urban revival project was heavily invested ($350million) in by Zappos frontman and startup cultural icon, Tony Hsieh.

His business model; to create a community of happiness, in an other wise depressed and dilapidated city centre… which leads us into lesson #1.

Lesson #1 Recognize potential and invest in it’s possibilities.

Startups Entrepreneurs are familiar with taking risks and getting comfortable in the uncomfortable. Tony Hsieh didn’t see the “Fremont Experience” and think let’s avoid this rundown area at all costs. Instead he said let’s immerse our company, culture and entrepreneurial energy into the infrastructure, and make old bones dance.

Collision Conference acknowledged the fact that tech conferences tend to be sausage fests, and did something Different. They invited the top 150 females in technology to attend the conference complimentary, there by subtly shifting the dynamics of a male centric space.

A Collision with another person, moves away from the hunt and gather mentality of standard networking events, and allows for the natural serendipity of individuals paths to cross.
Colliding with the right people at right place, and the right time, can become a natural and common occurrence.

Lesson #4 Never underestimate the power of food and lasting impressions.

Each morning upon entering the “event” attendees were treated to freshly baked blueberry muffins. The DoubleTree may have started this trend with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, but the result remains the same… A feeling of being welcomed, comforted, and wanting to return for more.

Lesson #5 Collaboration is the easiest way to breed successful innovations.

In the chaotic sea of 1000+ Startup Businesses prepping and pitching to investors and want to be investors for funding and mentorship. I found myself wondering, how many of the Startup entrepreneurs conversed and collided with one another to exchange ideas and information? (please tweet us @startup_garage if you have a great Startup to Startup Collision story)

It seems that Collision Conference was the perfect landscape for new startup business ideas to emerge, and preexisting ones to flourish with new insights. However, my experience was everyone was there with laser focus in the hopes swooning the VC or Angel.

Lesson #6 You can’t talk Marketing without the other M word… Millennials.

#Millennials isn’t just a trending hashtag, they’re a population of 77 million people, 1/4 of the American population, who are socially and economically savvy. Millennials have big brands via-ing for their attention and approval. As a generation with an insatiable appetite for quality content and the Tinder mindset (swipe left and move onto the next) marketing power is shifting into the hands of the consumer.

Lesson #7 Innovation never sleeps.

Innovative ideas and solutions have no On and Off switch, they’re a constant switching in the mind of Startup entrepreneurs. It’s not enough that there’s a solution, the questions remains whether it’s the smartest and most effective solution possible.

There’s Startup towns brewing, do you hear it percolating?

A Tech Startup conference shifted my perception of Vegas from an epicenter of gambling, strippers, and intentional debauchery to a sustainable community of like-minded entrepreneurs, that when colliding together, have ability to transform even the most unsuspecting places.

The Correlation between A Startups Seed Round and Series A Round

Here at The Startup Garage we are often asked, “Has it become harder to raise capital for Startups nowadays?”

The answer is, yes and no.

On the one hand, the total dollars invested in U.S. startups in 2014 reached its highest point since the dot-com boom in 2000, according to Bloomberg. On the other hand, there are more startups competing for these dollars than ever before.

One of the hardest rounds to raise, and subsequently one of the biggest hurdles to startup success, is the Seed round. This round is potentially the riskiest round for an investor as most startups raising Seed capital have yet to accomplish any significant milestones that prove the concept.

The technology or product development is usually in its infancy,
The team is lacking,Traction is nominal if present at all, and The key benchmarks for success have yet to be proven. As a result, many good ideas never make it out of the gate.

Those that successfully navigate the Seed round significantly increase their chance at entrepreneurial success and at raising their next round of capital, the Series A round.

When raising a Seed round the question becomes, “How large of a seed round should I raise to maximize my chances of raising a Series A round?”

Smaller Seed rounds seem like a quick fix because they are simpler and faster to raise as they typically require less investors.

However, in order to raise a significant Series A round, the startup needs sufficient capital to accomplish enough milestones that will attract Series A investors. As a result, we see a direct correlation between the amount of capital raised in the Seed round and the amount of capital raised in the subsequent Series A round.

According to data from CB Insights, companies that raised both a Seed round and a Series A round can be categorized as follows:

Small – Below the 25th percentile (<$360K for Seed, <$2M for Series A)

Average – Between 25th and 75th percentile (between $260K and $1.5M for Seed, between $2M and $7M for Series A)

Large – Above 75th percentile (>$1,5M for Seed, >$7M for Series A)As depicted in the chart below, nearly half of all large Seed deals became large Series A deals. Most of the other large Seed deals went on to raise average Series A rounds with a small number raising a small Series A round.

For companies that raised small Seed rounds, 57% went on to raise an average Series A round, and only 13% raised Series A rounds of $7M+. Lastly, 63.8% of companies that raised an average Seed round went on to raise an average Series A round.

Moral of the story: if you plan on raising a Series A round, don’t cut yourself short during your Seed round.

Networking Reception 5- 6pm:

The opportunity to mix and mingle with Entrepreneurs, Investors, Mentors, and Academia in a unique setting.

Key Note Speaker James Brennan 6pm- 6:50pm:

James Brennan is the co-founder of Suja a San Diego based juice company, named #2 on Forbes Most Promising Companies in 2015. James is a hospitality innovator in award winning restaurateur, a successful social entrepreneur.

USD Student Entepreneur Pitches 6:55pm- 7:32 pm:

4 Teams of Startup Entreprenurs from University of San Diego will pitch live to a panel of angel investors for a cash and price package worth up to $100,000.

Where to Meet Venture Capitalists?

As a Startup Entrepreneur stepping outside of your comfort zone is a daily norm, especially in the search of funding for your business.

Scoring a meeting with a Venture Capitalist becomes a network juggling act between strategy and innovation.

A key point to remember when approaching VC’s is that the question always on the top of their mind is… Will your Startup idea bring a significant return on their investment capital?

Assuming your answer is an undeniable yes,
the following resources offer you VC networking location suggestions. We encourage you can develop your relationship further both personally and professionally, as often times the connections most beneficial come as a result of the most unlikely resources.

Accelerator Programs

Accelerator programs, unique startup events and other brain storming events offer great opportunities to meet hundreds of experienced mentors from around the world. Many of these accelerator events are held in Silicone Valley or other communities where experienced startup founders abound. Accelerator programs like the UnSexy, The SmashSummit and GeeksOnaPlane offer wonderful networking opportunities; a place where you can easily get your pitch heard by qualified investors. More importantly, you can also find mentors here who will help you develop your funding plan.

The National Venture Capital Association

This is a trade association that provides resources for entrepreneurs about VCs. It offers information about different venture capital organizations, tools you may find useful and resources to specific VCs and entrepreneurs. You can find this association at www.nvca.org.

Angel Investing Service Companies

Angel investment service organizations help entrepreneurs get started. Most angel investors have entrepreneurial backgrounds themselves, and in a wide spectrum do of industries, not just tech. Many angel investing companies fund large numbers of new startups. And if they don’t, well then they do offer critical business connections, hands-on mentoring and help in building a qualified management team.

Online Resources

You can search databases of Venture Capital and Angel investors on websites like Gust. This type of database gives you the opportunity to contact investors directly and pitch your idea.

Angel Capital Association

Also known as ACA, this association offers useful resources and information on ways entrepreneurs should prepare themselves for finding investors. It also offers a database with a list of professionals such as attorneys and accountants who help startups looking for funding.

Local Events

Local networking groups and events can also help entrepreneurs network with venture capitalists. Attend local Meetup events that pertain to your industry.

Participate in local TEDx events; offer to be a free keynote speaker for local events or associations. This will help you network with other entrepreneurs and investor associations.

Join local associations like the Small Business Association. This organization often has SBA investment programs you can join. Even if you don’t get funded this way, it will offer you the networking contacts you need to further your funding needs.

Industry Events

Another way of networking and meeting all the right people is by attending industry events and finding out how other entrepreneurs have attracted venture capital.

Bottom Line

Finding venture capital is not all that difficult any longer because there is so much information available over the Internet. At one time, this type of information was almost a big ‘secret.’ And only a chosen few knew where and how to find investors.

Today, investors actually want to be sought out, and they hold important events, brainstorming sessions and more. They also give you specific information that can smooth the process for you and help you find the funding you need.

The Startup Garage’s Top 10 Best Blogs of 2014

2014 was a momentous year for entrepreneurs and startup companies around the globe. Through out the year The Startup Garage has shared our knowledge, resources, and insights with you in efforts to skyrocket your success.

Below our Top 10 Best Blogs of 2014, we hope you find them invaluable and worth referencing time and time again.

How To Evaluate Your Startups Business Model

The business model is the means by which your company makes money for the value that you deliver to your customers. Learn how to create a strategy to monetize your product or service. Find out more here: How To Evaluate your Startup Business Model

What Type of Funding is Best for My Company?

How To Raise Startup Capital In 120 Seconds

A quick pitch should serve as a teaser of what’s exciting and noteworthy to come next. The intention of a 2-minute pitch is to deliver a heavy dose of substance, content, and sizzle regarding your Startup’s investment potential.
Find out more here: How To Raise Startup Capital in 120 Seconds

Infographic What’s Your Entrepreneurial Vision?

Behind every entrepreneur or startup founder there is vision, mission, and purpose on how to serve the world at large.
What’s your vision?
To Make the World More…
Beautiful? Smart? Fun?
Find out here: Infographic What’s Your Entrepreneurial Vision

How To Determine Market Traction For Your Startup

Market traction is proof that somebody wants your product; it communicated momentum in market adoption. The more market traction you can demonstrate the less risk there is in the investment.
Find out more here: How To Determine Market Traction For Your Startup

Social Media A Startup Must-Have

How To Define a Small Business Vs. A High-Growth Startup

A startup company, also referred to as a high-growth startup, is a company with a business model that is designed to be repeatable and scalable. This is directly opposed to a small business,
Find out more here: How to Define a Small Business Vs. A High-Growth

How To Write a Term Sheet For Your Startup

Technically speaking, a term sheet is a non-binding agreement that demonstrates a basic set of terms and conditions under which an investment is made, typically by either an angel or venture capital investor.
Find out more here: How To Write a Term Sheet For Your Startup

How Long Does It Take to Raise Capital?

The average time is somewhere between three to six months for both you Angel round and your Series A round. It really breaks down into three major steps.
Find out more here: How Long Does It Take to Raise Capital

Why A Business Plan Is Essential When Crowdfunding Your Startup

Letting the crowd fund your startup doesn’t mean allowing your business plan to go unwritten. In the business world, approximately 543,000 new businesses get started each month and funding those businesses comes from a variety of sources. Find more here: Why a Business Plan is Essential When Crowdfunding Your Startup

The Unsung Heroes of Startup Funding – The Large Corporation

Sunne Justice sat across from me, explaining her company mission, and her interest in creating a conscious cloud technology business.

She had a startup business that had successfully raised 1.5 millions dollars for a cloud technology venture.

Listening, I was amazed, “How could a business, 5 years in the making; one that still had their product in beta (a type of tech trial basis), managed to raise so much venture capital?” “Of course,” I thought. “As an experienced corporate CEO, it must be easy for Sunne, to raise the money. She had the contacts.”

But after a lot of research, some digging and a few interviews, I realized that many startups have found the venture capital they needed, and without too much of an effort; even without having too many corporate contacts or finance experience.

They just knew where to look.

If you have a great idea or an existing start-up that needs money to grow, you can borrow from friends and family but a better and more lucrative option, may be to find venture capital in the corporate world.

Where Do I Find The Kind of Capital I Need?

A new resource, just recently on the rise is the corporate world. More and more large corporations seem to be opening up venture capital funding departments.

“Wait a minute! Wasn’t that something they tried in the late 1990s?”

It is true. Many financial institutions and corporations tried their hand at venture capital investments and lost their hats in the process. But that was a time when corporations where only looking at the bottom line of a start-up. Now their vision is more global. They see start-ups as an opportunity for innovation.

Venture capital funding has decreased since the late 1990s. But if you have a solid business plan, a good product or idea you can still find venture capital investors. They are everywhere and continually increasing. In fact, now multinational companies are venturing into the startup world.

The Big Guns

Yes, that’s right. Companies like General Motors, American Express, Verizon, Google and PepsiCo, are just a few of the blue chip companies that have fully functional venture capital departments.

There are several reasons for this. Some multinational corporations are looking to get a piece of the startup action… but more likely, many of these corporations see startups as a viable research and development solution.

According to the New York Times, companies like General Motors, have investors based in their research labs. Large corporations across the globe are investing more than $20 billion in startups – and that’s no small chunk of change.

The Startup Advantage

Where other types of investors could be put off by certain startup investments because of a lack of real profit, large corporations see the same start-up venture as an opportunity. Blue-chip companies turned venture capitalists seem to be less concerned with profits, than they are with future innovative ideas.

Corporations are often restricted by regulations and by internal policy. This impedes their ability to be innovative. So instead their idea is to share with small, innovative businesses that are outside their own corporate enterprise.

For the large corporation, a promising startup could be a way to stay ahead of the competition; a way of innovating their existing products and of delivering superior value to their stakeholders.

The Result

The growth of successful startups is making established corporations reconsider new business opportunities and the way they search for innovation. Today, this means offering corporate venture capital, alliances, licenses and joint development. For them, venture capital departments have become a useful tool which they use to stimulate innovation.

For startups, this new interest from large corporations is great news. It means more resources for their ideas, products and inventions. It means access to funds they couldn’t otherwise find, even if they find funding from friends and family. When looking for funds larger than a few thousand dollars, this is certainly a funding option worth considering.

Finding These Venture Capitalists

Before looking for corporate venture capitalists, you must make sure everything is in order. You need a highly-detailed business plan. You need guidance from experts in business plan development; experienced consultants who know what corporate venture capital departments look for; those who know what corporate investors to point you toward.

How To Determine Market Traction For Your Startup

The major thing to know about the first few years of funding a startup business is that in order to attract investor capital you must accomplish certain milestones.

Accomplishing milestones helps to reduce the risk associated with the startup venture.

Investors are constantly assessing risk when evaluating a startup and obviously prefer those that assume less risk. Additionally, accomplishing milestones allows you to raise capital at a much higher valuation because you’ve thereby improved the risk-to-return ration (i.e. the riskier the business the more equity the investor will need to compensate the level of risk).

There are seven main categories of milestones that most investors assess when evaluating a startup
investment opportunity:

The specific milestones that you need to achieve within each categories varies depending on the type of business and the stage of capital that is being raised(startup round, seed round, series A, etc).

In this post, we’ll be focusing on the milestones that demonstrate market traction.

What is Market Traction?

According to Naval Ravikant, the Co-Founder of Angel List, market traction is simply defined as“quantitative evidence of market demand.” Traction is proof that somebody wants your product, it communicated momentum in market adoption.

Why is Market Traction Important?

Per usual, it all boils down to risk for an investor. The more market traction you can demonstrate the less risk there is in the investment.

How Do You Demonstrate Market Traction?

Adequate market traction will vary at each round of capital simply because you have limited resources
to demonstrate it. Furthermore, one of the major reasons that you are raising capital is because you
want to grow your current traction.When raising capital from Friends, Family, and Founders in the Startup Round the amount of market traction that you can demonstrate is limited. You likely don’t have a product developed that is ready for market, so traction in the form of sales is not attainable. However, you can show potential traction by demonstrating the size of the market and trends that support your product claims and solutions.

Additionally, you can conduct primary research such as surveys and conversations with potential
customers and/or partners to help validate your value proposition. Lastly, you can put together a clear marketing plan to demonstrate how you will reach potential customers.

When raising Seed capital from Angel investors you will need to take your market traction to the next
level. This includes obtaining some Beta testers and ideally, some paying customers. You’ll need a full scale marketing plan that proves a significant market opportunity exists based on what you’ve learned about the market to date.

Ultimately, you need to prove that you understand the sales cycle for your business.

Lastly, when raising Series A capital and beyond from Venture Capitalists or institutional investors you need to show how you will scale the business. By this point, you want to deploy the capital raised in earlier rounds to not only show that there is a demand for your product but that you can scale the product. In order to demonstrate this you need to understand what it costs to acquire a new customer and what the lifetime value of that customer is.

Why A Business Plan Is Essential When Crowdfunding Your Startup

In the business world, approximately 543,000 new businesses get started each month and funding those businesses comes from a variety of sources.

Most recently, startups are beginning to utilize crowdfunding sites to promote their ventures and raise the capital they need through online platforms.

Similar to the popular TV show Shark Tank, startups have the opportunity to present their business to a number of “backers” who can potentially finance their business. Such crowdfunding websites are making it easier for new business owners to spread the word of their company and search for possible investors.

On the flipside websites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Fundable are allowing for investors to check out a multitude of emerging businesses for possible fruitful endeavors, which leads us to….

5 Reasons Why A Business Plan Is Essential When Crowdfunding Your Startup

1) A business plan will be used as a blueprint for your crowdfunding campaign.

It will help define the purpose of your business/project, how it will operate, specify the exact amount of capital needed, and it how it will reward/benefit those that invest. These details are the key ingredients necessary for a successfully funded campaign.

2) A business plan is a SYSTEM (S)aves (Y)ou (S)tress
(T)ime (E)nergy and (M)oney when building and launching your business, both on and offline. Going through the process ahead of time, can prevent and even correct mistakes that might have otherwise gone overlooked.

3) A business plan is one of the most compelling marketing tools available to enroll others in your mission. After all, a crowdfunding campaign is only as successful as it’s amount of supporters.

4) A business plan will be used as an internal tool for you business as well, guiding your company through the first 3-5 years. Following this document with in your business will provide structure and stability, even during the most uncertain of times.

5) Eventually crowdfunding capital runs dry, and you need to look for your next funding source. Most likely that would be an angel investor, an individual who typically invest between $25,000- $100,000 of their own money. Angel investors want to see facts and figures. They want a well thought out business plan, one that demonstrates you have taken the time to do research, plan and organize your startup business. Exemplifying less risk and more return on investment.

2015 will be a revolutionary year for crowdfunding; with current trends stating an average of 325 new crowdfunding campaigns launching everyday.

This means investment opportunities and competition for funding are expanding at a rapid pace. Are you ready to #GetFunded?

How To Raise Startup Capital In 120 Seconds

Think of a quick pitch as you would a movie trailer.

1) A quick pitch should serve as a teaser of what’s exciting and noteworthy to come next. The intention of a 2 minute pitch is to deliver a heavy dose of substance, content, and sizzle regarding your Startup’s investment potential.

A simple outline when delivering a quick pitch is:

• Your name and title
• Your business name
• What problem inspired your business?
• What is your solution?
• What does your business need to achieve the next level of success?

In this specific instance, a panel of 7 judges, scored the 10 startup finalist in 2 separate categories: Content and Style. Each judge held up a scorecard with 10 being the best and 1 being the worst, for each category.

2)Decide who on your Startup Team best delivers your company’s message.

Not all founders or co-founders were meant to step on stage (in this case in front of an audience of 500 people) and “perform.” Explore who on your team accelerates in public speaking and leverage that ability.

For AstroPrint this person is CEO Drew Taylor, his ability to remain relaxed and assured during their pitch, made a “high-tech” complex process simple to comprehend.

3) Practice. Practice. Practice.
There is only way to become a Quick Pitch Master, the answer is practice, practice, and more practice. Practice not only your pitch with different people, but also in different environments.

Perhaps this was the winning ingredient for nPruv CEO Summer Rogers. The panel of judges applauded her for repeatedly practicing nPruv’s pitch in the auditorium where the event was taking place that night.

There’s an unquestionable value and confidence that comes with practicing on the specific stage you’re presenting on.

4) Engage with your audience.
Quick Pitches are designed to create a level of curiosity and interest in the Startup. As the presenter, talk to NOT at your audience, help make them to feel they’re a vital part of a conversation.

*It’s fair to note your audience includes not only the panel of judges, but onlookers as well.

Doctible CEO, Ajit Viswanathan brilliantly highlighted this point. With in his presentation he included a slide with the judge’s pictures, which the crowd and judges went wild over. Making his pitch point both relevant and relatable to all.

5)Enthusiasm.
Remember enthusiasm is contagious. A Startup pitch with out enthusiasm can leave the listener feeling you’re not invested or inspired by your company, why should they be…

GetTAGit.com CEO & Founder Ana Bermudez, oozed enthusiasm, from her walk, to smile, to tone of voice, it was clear she’s created a Startup she’s excited to share with the world.

6)Timing.
2 minutes or 60 seconds can seem like an eternity for some or race to beat the clock for others.

In this instance a clock illuminated the back wall below the presenter’s slideshow. Regardless, of their feeling toward the ticking seconds, there was no avoiding it.

Interesting enough, those Startups that concluded their pitch prior to time running out (5 of them to be exact) were not in the event’s winners circle.

CleverPet Co-Founder, Dan Kundsen along with Companion Medical’s CEO, Sean Saint were the 2 out of 10 Startups with perfectly timed out pitches.

7) The Pitch Close and Following up.
At the end of a perfect pitch lies 2 key ingredients:

• Summarizing your entire pitch in 1 sentence. Think about it like this, if your audience were to walk away with one message regarding your Startup what would you want that to be? Often times the close is also the tagline for your Startup.

• Invite the opportunity for people to follow up with you, and find out in greater detail what about your Startup and the investment opportunity. All those finer details that a 2 minute quick pitch couldn’t cover.

Congratulations to all 130 Startup Companies courageous enough to enter the Quick Pitch Competition, especially the top 10 finalist we had the pleasure of watching at the event.

Special congrats to nPruv for winning the grand prize, Companion Medical for winning the content category, and GetTAGit.com for winning the style category.

It’s Startup companies like yours that continue to shift the landscape of business innovation. Thank you!

We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.

Our Work

Fit4Mom

The Startup Garage dialed in the Fit4Mom accounting team. We set up their inventory management, analyzed their revenue streams and made recommendations to increase their profitability and revenue. We were first hired to build their business plan and financial model, and have continued with them through our CFO services.

Powur

TSG created revenue models, supported in their commission structure, developed use of funds, and cap table management. Our team began by developing all of their investor documents and supported them through three rounds of capital raising. We are currently working with them on their fourth round of capital raising.

Kids Choose Charity

The Startup Garage helped Kids Choose Charity get clear on their target market and what their product actually was. We also connected them with community resources. KCC is just one non-profit organisations out of a dozen that TSG has worked with over the years.

Women Network

MintShow

The Startup Garage team was able to help MintShow get organized around their vision and educate them on the capital raising process. We also constructed their investor deck. Within the past two years we’ve continued to work with them on a number of their subsidiary companies.

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We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.

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We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.

Sheila Levison

Controller

Sheila has an extensive background as an accountant, auditor, CPA and controller for a broad range of companies. With over 20 years of experience in the field, she provides expert level accounting services specifically tailored to the individual client’s needs. Sheila helps businesses streamline and run more efficiently by being the gatekeeper for all business activities. She has negotiated with the IRS, handled EDD audits, hired and worked with attorneys and handled public and private audits from beginning to end. Sheila has provided accounting services for a variety of companies ranging from KPMG, independent auditing, Frontier Airlines, marketing/manufacturing, real estate and various fitness companies.

Sheila is a CPA and has a Bachelor of Science degree from UCLA with a focus in the areas of mathematics and applied science (emphasis in operations research). Her specializations also include computer science and business administration.

Michael Russell

Fractional CFO

Michael A. Russell, “Mike,” has over twenty-five years of experience as a CFO – principally with rapidly growing, technology-based, manufacturing and software companies. He has been associated with both private and public companies, gaining experience in nearly every role in a financial department. These responsibilities have included functions in accounting, credit, and collections, treasury, financial planning and budgeting, information systems and human resources over the course of his career.

Mike’s record of equity financing speaks for itself, having participated in rasing over $70 million. As a consultant and advisor to emerging companies, he has significant experience in the development of financial strategy and direction, monitoring and explaining performance versus the agreed-to plan. As a CFO for companies in the startup phase, Mike is able to span the requirements of a financial management position from day-to-day detail to assessing the overall view of the strategic direction of the organization. he has developed and maintained relationships with bankers, investors and shareholders.

Mike attended UCLA, where he received a BSEE and MBA in Finance.

Tyler
Jensen

Founder & CEO

Tyler is a serial entrepreneur, startup coach, early stage PT CFO and trusted advisor to numerous founders. He is passionate about helping entrepreneurs start companies that matter. Tyler has helped launch over 200 companies, non-profits and social enterprises.
The first company he started and sold is VAVi Sport & Social Club which grew to over 25,000 members in six years, and was recognized as San Diego’s 30th & 32nd fastest growing private company in 2006-2007 by the San Diego Business Journal and sold for over 25 times the capital investment.

Prior to launching VAVi, Tyler served as the Deputy Campaign Manager for Tim Kane for Congress, where he crafted and managed all aspects of launching and managing a United States Congressional Campaign. He was responsible for the fundraising plan creation & execution, staff volunteer recruitment & management, as well as marketing plan design & implementation. The design and production of campaign promotional materials and other creative marketing initiatives led to substantially increased name recognition and voter support.

Tyler has served as a trusted advisor on numerous Non-Profit and Corporate Board of Directors. He was born in Virginia and spends his free time stand up paddle boarding and building furniture.

Mario
Domogma

DOMAGMA

Mario is a Business Analyst for The Startup Garage. In addition to his educational background, Mario is also passionate in sustainable energy and renewable transportation, noted by his experience working with Tesla Motors. He brings an entrepreneurial bend to his work and a unique perspective to his clients that is tailored to their market.

Favorite quote: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln

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The Startup Garage

Beginner’s Guide to Raising Capital

Business Plan Basics

Guide to Raising Capital from FFF

Guide to Raising Capital from Angel Investors

4e – Crowdfunding 101

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We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.

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4b – Business Plan Basics Ebook Request

4c – Guide to Raising Capital from FFF Ebook Request

4d – Guide to Raising Capital from Angel Investors Ebook Request

4e – Crowdfunding 101 Ebook Request Form

Email Newsletter

We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.

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4a – Beg Guide to Raising Capital

4c – Guide to Raising Capital from FFF Ebook Request

4d – Guide to Raising Capital from Angel Investors Ebook Request

4e – Crowdfunding 101 Ebook Request Form

Email Newsletter

We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.

eBook Request

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4a – Beg Guide to Raising Capital

4c – Guide to Raising Capital from FFF Ebook Request

4d – Guide to Raising Capital from Angel Investors Ebook Request

4e – Crowdfunding 101 Ebook Request Form

Email Newsletter

We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.

eBook Request

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First Name*

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4a – Beg Guide to Raising Capital

4b – Business Plan Basics Ebook Request

4c – Guide to Raising Capital from FFF Ebook Request

4e – Crowdfunding 101 Ebook Request Form

Email Newsletter

We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.

eBook Request

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4a – Beg Guide to Raising Capital

4b – Business Plan Basics Ebook Request

4c – Guide to Raising Capital from FFF Ebook Request

4d – Guide to Raising Capital from Angel Investors Ebook Request

Email Newsletter

We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.

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Please send me the following ebooks via email.

Beginner’s Guide to Raising Capital

Business Plan Basics

Guide to Raising Capital from FFF

Guide to Raising Capital from Angel Investors

Crowdfunding 101

Request a Free Consultation

Sign me up for the Email Newsletter

We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.

Sample
Investor Document
Request

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3a – Sample Business Plan Request

3c – Sample 1 Page Business Plan Request

3d – Sample Executive Summary Request

Email Newsletter

We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.

Sample
Investor Document
Request

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3a – Sample Business Plan Request

3b – Sample Investor Deck Request

3c – Sample 1 Page Business Plan Request

Email Newsletter

We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.

Our Work

Augen Optics

The TSG team put together an investor deck and prepared Augen Optics to pitch to a strategic partner. We coached them in generating their pitch. Augen Optics is a spin-off company of the original Augen. We helped them explore whether the opportunity was the right direction for their overall growth.

See our Work

We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.

Danielle Greenhouse

Community Development Manager

Danielle Greenhouse is the Operations Manager at The Startup Garage. Prior to joining the TSG team, Danielle worked in the financial services industry with a focus on Operations, Community/Business Development and Meeting & Event Planning. Earlier in her career Danielle worked as a trader and Relationship Manager at Fidelity Investments and she also gained administrative and operational experience working in the Hedge Fund industry. Additional experience includes a background in Early Childhood Development.

Danielle now lives in the San Diego, CA area with her husband of 14 years and her two daughters. She is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and enjoys spending time outdoors with her family and 13-year-old Boston Terrier Roxy. Other hobbies include recently learning to ski, attending regular fitness classes and baking.

Danielle also serves as a Parent Volunteer for the North County Consortium for Special Education (NCCSE). NCCSE is a Special Education Local Planning Area (SELPA) whose goal is to ensure that every eligible child receives appropriate special education services within their school district.

Mark Meyerdirk

Managing Partner

Early in his career Mark built his own business with over 120 employees; he has also operated a franchise company with 300 offices and 3,000 sales agents. Mark works with venture funds, private equity funds and commercial real estate developers. He serves on numerous boards of directors, has started up dozens of new companies, has worked with investment banks as a FINRA registered representative and has traveled to and worked with companies all over world on complex business projects.

Mark operates his consulting company, Meyerdirk Consulting Group, Inc., which specializes in capital formation strategies for emerging companies, franchising and is the co-founder of the Alternative Investment Forum designed to connect high net worth investors, family offices and private equity firms with early stage companies.
Mark lives in the Kansas City area with his wife of 41 years and has 4 children and 5 grandchildren. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado – Boulder and Washburn University School of Law.

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We believe that entreprenuers are changing the world, and we are dedicated to giving them the resources they need to attract the investors they want.

Lauren
Diaz

PRESIDENT

Lauren M. Diaz, CPA, is the President at The Startup Garage, joining the team in 2016.

Lauren worked as a Director of Finance for CSX, a Fortune 250 Transportation Company, based in Jacksonville, FL. During her six-year career at CSX, Lauren held multiple Finance and Marketing roles, gaining valuable experience in financial modeling, pricing analytics, market valuation and capital strategy. Prior to CSX, Lauren spent two years at a Public Accounting firm in Miami, FL.

Lauren is a passionate cyclist and triathlete and is the CFO and Director of Sponsor Strategy for DelaFina Racing, a not-for-profit women’s cycling team and club. DelaFina Racing seeks to empower women and build confidence through the sport of cycling.

Lacie Ward

Community Operations Manager

Lacie Ward is the Community Operations Manager at The Startup Garage. Prior to joining the TSG team, Lacie worked in the Brand Development industry with a focus on Public Relations, Community/Business Development and Social Media Management. Lacie attended California State University San Marcos where she studied Communications with an emphasis in Mass Media and was involved with the Peer Mentorship Program, Greek Life and was an Orientation Team leader.

Lacie was born and raised in San Diego, CA and doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon. She enjoys spending time outdoors and is an animal rights activist. Other hobbies include cooking, gardening and spending time at the beach.
Lacie also serves as a volunteer for Kitchens For Good. Kitchens for Good aims to break the cycles of food waste, poverty and hunger through innovative programs in workforce training, healthy food production, and social enterprise.

Victoria Lakers

Fractional CFO

Victoria possesses over fifteen years of experience in finance, capital raising, marketing and sales, and operations development, including experience at a top 10 global private equity firm and in founding and selling her own company. She has participated in raising over $2.5 billion for various alternative investments.

Learn More About High-Performance Startup Financial Services.

Call (858) 876-4597, or fill out the form.

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We believe entrepreneurs are changing the world. Our team is dedicated to supporting you with the resources for success.